Klary's eyes widened as she registered the Doctor's words. Body tense as her eyes met his. It wasn't difficult to know exactly what he meant. Her arrival had been quite a dramatic one. Her actions throughout their adventure colder than usual. As he leaned against the console, arms crossed in front of him, Klary sighed. She couldn't tell him details, but she knew she would have to say something to assuage his curiosity.

"Something happened…" The roll of his eyes told her that he was aware of that. His raised eyebrow pushed her to elaborate. "Before I came here…" Klary took a breath. Tears in her eyes as she told him about her near death. She kept the finer details out. Not telling him what adventure or who had caused it. Just enough so that he knew.

As she finished, he pulled Klary into his arms. Body tense as he held her. Apologies and promises on his lips. His words a balm even though she knew he had no control over his companion at the moment. That he had been busy saving everyone. She couldn't fault him. Not when he wasn't aware of anything going on. Yet, she finally came to realise that Rose's actions on that adventure, and the subsequent meeting directly after was the cause of all the bad blood. It was one of those instances where one could ask what came first. A philosophical question on whether anything could have been done to prevent it. The age-old chicken or the egg debate. Klary wasn't sure if anything would have prevented it all. The relationship between her and the companion doomed from the start.

With prodding from Klary, the Doctor poked his head out the door. "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"

Rose turned to her boyfriend. "Thanks."

Thanks for what?"

"Exactly." She kissed his cheek and ran into the Tardis.

Once the ship's doors closed, Rose moved to the console, hands on the edge with a big smile on her lips. "So, where to?"

"I know just the thing." Klary nudged him. Eyes moving to the corridor. "Actually, it's been quite a day. I'm sure you'd want to clean up and rest."

The blonde's expression dimmed. "'Spose that's a good idea." She moved towards the Doctor but was intercepted by Klary. "Do I just make my own way?"

She cut her eyes at the girl. "Just follow the lights."

When Klary appeared, she found herself in front of a castle. Purple, blue, pink, and yellow lights illuminating it. Voices heard as she looked around. Walking towards her was Clara and a group of soldiers. A much shorter man with them. Porridge if she remembered correctly.

"After they got us off."

"Clara Oswald!"

Whatever was said cut off as the woman rushed to her. Happiness and worry in her gaze. "Klary! Did you just get here?"

"Who is she?" The woman beside her asked. Eyes hard as she took in the new arrival.

"She's with us. Well, the Doctor. She pops up."

Klary waved her hand in dismissal. "Nevermind that. What's going on? Where is the Doctor?"

"Cybermen on the moon."

"Oh." Her tone deadpan before she returned her attention back to the woman. "Will there be a rescue?"

"Captain, you want to take that one?" Porridge asked.

"No, ma'am. Just blow the sucker up."

"Lovely."

Clara nudged her. "Drawbridge, moat, brilliant."

"With respect, ma'am, we ought to be hunting the creature…"

Klary stopped and faced them. "The only reason I'm still alive is that I do what the Doctor says. Can you guarantee me you'd bring back my children alive and unharmed?" Clara stomped up to the man who spoke. Shoulders squared as she eyed him down. The man shook his head and remained silent. "I trust the Doctor."

"You think he knows what he's doing?"

"I'm not sure I'd go that far."

"Have a little faith, Clara." She nudged her with a smile. "He does his… thing." A sheepish smile on her lips as she glanced at the others. With that, Klary followed Clara as she turned back to the castle.

As Klay and Clara walked along the walkway, the same young soldier approached them. "Er, ma'am. Missy said she saw something, and then she went quiet."

"It's on its way, then?" She glanced at Klary who gave her a short nod. "Weapons! Show me. Only one gun?" Clara knelt down when they approached the others surrounding three open cases.

"Cybermen have been extinct for a thousand years. Even one Anti-Cyber gun is a miracle. These things are hand-pulsers." The woman pulled one out and fitted it on her hand. "Touch the back of a Cyberman's head, the electomagnetic pulse deactivates it."

"What's this for?" Clara nodded to one of the open ones that held three vials and a small rectangular contraption. "Just a mad guess here, it blows up the planet?"

"Implodes it. There's also a trigger unit."

Clara reached over and took the unit from the soldier's hand. "I'll have that, then. Is there any other way to activate the bomb?"

"It's set to respond to my voice. I have the verbal code."

"You will not activate it without a direct order from me."

The woman angrily stood and walked over to Clara. The curly-haired brunette glared at her but remained against the wall. "I will follow my orders."

"Your orders come from me, don't they?"

"You'll need to sign for the trigger unit, ma'am."

Klary chuckled as Clara reached for the clipboard. "Oh, thanks."

The smaller man picked up a hand pulser. "Mind if I take one of these? Might be handy."

"Help yourself. I'll teach you how to use it. Upstairs. Now!"

The two women walked up the battlement stairs to find Porridge and the more combative soldier speaking. Interrupting their conversation. "I don't get it. Why would you blow up a whole planet and everybody on it just to get rid of one Cyberman?"

"We tried other ways, but they only work sometimes, so now we take drastic action. And it works."

"If you find a Cyberman and you can't destroy it immediately, you implode the planet. I was sent here because I didn't follow orders. I can make up for that." She glared at the three before she picked up the bomb.

Klary just shook her head. Remembering what was about to happen to the woman. "You really should put that down."

"Put it down. I forbid you."

"Yeah. What she said."

"You ran away. I will do what I was brought up to do. Live for the Empire, fight for the Empire, die for the Empire." She shoved her way past Clara and Porridge. "This is Captain Alice Ferrin, Imperial ID one nine delta one three B. Activate-" Before she could finish, she was shot by a Cyberman.

"Cyberman! Get down!"

Klary pushed off the wall. A hand going to Clara's shoulder. "We should move." Her words seemed to get the other woman out of her stupor. The two walked off with the soldiers close behind.

"The Doctor said to get somewhere easily defensible, but if we just stay in the castle it'll pick us off one by one. We have to take it out."

"Is that an order, ma'am?" The man's voice shook with each word. Klary couldn't help but feel sorry for them. As she did with most who were put in such positions. She knew they hadn't expected to be in such a predicament. She wasn't sure she would be able to save anyone as these Cybermen upgraded the moment someone took one out.

"Yes."

"Good."

"You know what to do."

"Pulse to the back of the head. Fry the brain circuit interface."

"It's going to be hard to get in close enough."

"I've heard about the Cybermen since I was in my cradle. I'm not afraid of you."

"Now!" The Cybern man moved forward. The soldier dropped to the floor while Clara atomised it with a blast from the Anti-Cyber gun from her position behind sandbags.

"Hold it right there," someone called out as the dead soldiers stood and began to approach them.

"What's happening to them?"

"One more step and I fire," Clara called as two upgraded soldiers approached.

"Don't fire that. A pulse will deactivate them." Two of the other soldiers rushed behind them and used one of the hand-pulsers. Effectively incapacitating them. "And anyway, it's a waste of charge. We may need it again."

"You think that was the only one, then?"

As they made their way through the grounds, Klary and Clara heard the Doctor call out. "Argh! Don't shoot, don't shoot, I'm nice. Please, don't shoot." The woman shared a glance before rushing to the clearing. "Hey, Clara, you haven't let them blow up the planet. Good job." His eyes moved to Klary. A smile on his lips. "Love."

"Darling." She went to say more but Clara interrupted.

"Did you get the kids? Are they all right? What's going on?"

"Er, a bit of a good news-bad news, good news again thing going on. So… good news, I've kidnapped the Cyberplanner and right now I'm sort of in control of this Cyberman."

"Bad news?"

"Bad news, the Cyberplanner's in my head. And, different bad news, the kids are, well, it's complicated."

"Complicated how?" Clara menacingly stepped towards him.

He backed away. "Complicated as in walking coma." He held up the board in his hand, attempting and failing to hide himself behind it as he moved to the side and showed them.

Clara rushed up to them."Please tell me you can wake them up."She moved around them and continued towards the Doctor.

"Hope so."

"Other good news?"

The blaster aimed on him. The Doctor glanced at Klary, eyes pleading for help but the brunette just stood to the side. Amusement clear on her face. "Well, in other good news, there are a few more repaired and reactivated Cybermen on the way, and the Cyberplanner's installing a patch for the gold thing. No, wait, that isn't good news, is it? Er, so, good news… I have a very good chance of winning my chess match."

"What?"

"I'll explain later. In a bit of a hurry. Get me to a table, and somebody tie me up! Need hands-free for chess. And immobilise me. Quickly."

Klary glanced at a confused Clara. "That was so hot."

Clara rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" With a shake of her head, she followed after the Doctor. The group making their way into the castle.

In the throne room, Klary and Clara made quick work of tightly tying the Doctor to a chair with some thick rope laying about. The two backed away a bit. Neither really knowing what to do.

"Right, that's good. I won't be able to move, but hands-free. Good!"

"You're playing chess with yourself?"

"And winning." He ripped the gold ticket off his face, showing the cybernetics attached to it. "Actually… He has no better than a 25% chance of winning at this stage in the game. Some very dodgy moves at the beginning. Hello, flesh girls. Fantastic! I'm the Cyber Planner. "

"Doctor?"

"Not really him, Clara."

"That's right. I'm working the mouth now. Allons-y. Oh, you should see the state of these neurons. He's had some cowboys in here. Ten complete re-jigs."

"Oh hush you."

Clara's brows furrowed. "You aren't the Doctor?"

"No, but I know who you are. You're the impossible girl. Oh, he's very interested in you."

"Why am I impossible?"

"Hasn't he told you? The sly devil. Oh, dear me. Listen, soon we'll wake. We'll strip you down for spare parts, then build a spaceship and move on."

"More Cybermen."

"They're waking from their tomb right now. You can either die or live on as one of us." As he spoke, he wrote 'HIT ME' on a notepad.

Clara glanced at Klary before returning her attention back to the Doctor. "The Doctor will stop you."

"He can't even access the lips."

Klary rolled her eyes and slapped the hell out of him. "Argh! Ow! Oh, that hurt. No, stop. Enough. Bit of pain, neural surge. Just what I needed. Thank you."

"Why am I the impossible girl?"

"It's just a thing in my head. I'll explain later."

"Chess game. Stakes?"

"If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel. But, if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us all anyway."

"That's not reassuring."

"No."

"Please tell me you can fix whatever happened to the children."

"Children. Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand-by mode."

"That is not fine!"

"Listen, right now they have a much better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do."

"Which one of you said that?"

A sinister grin crawled across his lips. "Me. Cyberplanner. Mister Clever. Now, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish, and you have to die, pointlessly and very far from home. Toodle-oo."

At the drawbridge, Clara let out a huff. Arms crossed. "Apparently there are more Cybermen on the way."

"There's at least a dozen more shots left in the gun before it needs to recharge."

"We might have more than a dozen Cybermen to worry about. What's that cable?"

"Power line for the park."

"What would happen if we unhooked the end, dropped it into the moat and turned it on?"

"Fry anything alive that entered the water."

"Can Cybermen fly?"

"No, ma'am."

"First good news of the day. Do it!

"Look at you all in charge," Klary joked. Her companion smiled as they watched the soldiers get to work.

A few minutes later, the moat was electrified and the drawbridge raised. The group huddled in the courtyard. Porridge ladled something into a couple of cups and brought two over to Clara and Klary. "There, get that in you. Warm you up."

"Oh, thank you, Porridge."

"Oi, Clara!"

"We'll see what he wants. Call me if there's any change."

"Right."

Klary and Clara walked into the throne room. The former with her eyebrow raised as she went to lean against the door frame. "Hey! Clara, there you are. Now, quick rundown. What's our weapon strength?"

"One big gun, five of those hand-pulser units and a shiny black bomb that implodes the planet."

"Yeah. Yeah, that one. Now, tell me, does it happen possibly to have a remote triggery thing?" Clara pulled it from her jacket pocket and held it up. "Brilliant. Pass it here."

"No."

"Why not?"

"In case you're not you right now. Or even if you are, just in case."

"Oh, don't worry. The Cyberplanner's hibernating between moves right now. Shush."

She bent down. Putting herself eye level with him."Prove you're you. Tell me something only the Doctor knows."

"Clara… I suppose… I'm the only one who knows how I feel about you right now. How funny you are. So funny. And pretty. And the truth is, I'm starting to like you in a way that is more than just-" Clara hit him. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Yes! It's me. That really hurt. How did you know that was him?"

"Because there's only one person in the universe you'd say anything remotely like that to and it's the woman behind me. You would never hurt her like that. Finish your stupid game." Before she could walk away, the Doctor latched onto her arm. "Doctor, let go."

"He can't."

"He's got control of the left arm. Argh, argh, no! No!" The Doctor grabbed the remote trigger, slamming it against the table until it was destroyed.

"Doctor?"

"He got what he wanted. He destroyed the trigger. My move."

"What do you mean, he got what he wanted?"

"He means, good news, boys and girls. They're here!"

At his words, the women rushed out to meet with the soldiers and Porridge. In front of them were rows of Cybermen. "One gun, five hand-pulsers and a planet-smashing bomb that doesn't work any more."

"Why not?"

"Broken trigger unit."

"But you signed for that."

"Wasn't exactly her fault."

The first Cyberman stepped into the moat and was electrocuted. The group laughed. Excited their plan worked. "Brilliant."

"Don't get too happy," Klary said as an upgrade was called.

"Damn. Who's our best shot?"

"Probably it's me."

She handed the soldier the gun. "Shoot any of them who make it across. The rest of you, take defensive positions. Porridge?"

"Yes?"

"Keep yourself safe."

The first Cyberman came through the gates and was atomised. More continued to follow. It wasn't long before the group began to retreat. Everyone doing what they could to not get shot.

"I've got no charge left." At his words, Clara grabbed a heavy mace.

"You can't be serious?"

"Grab one." Klary huffed and grabbed a weapon of her own. The women went to attack but their weapons were caught and pulled away from them. They backed away from the Cybermen. Backs to the wall as they advanced on them. Suddenly they slowed and stopped. With them frozen, the group rushed away and into the throne room where they found the Doctor without the implants on his face.

"Just taking advantage of the local resources. Ah, hello. Can someone untie me, please?"

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"No. You're too short and bossy, and your nose is all funny."

"Good enough. What happened to the Cyberplanner?" Clara asked as she untied him.

"Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen right now, and about to wake them all up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship. We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it." He rushed over to the bomb. "Okay, it has a fallback voice activation."

"I think you should ask Porridge," Angie said.

"Why?"

Klary smirked and placed a hand on Angie's shoulder, nudging her a bit. "Well, he is the Emperor. I bet he knows the activation codes. Oh, come on. It's obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin, and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller, but look, am I the only one paying attention to anything around here?"

"You are full of surprises. Porridge?"

"She's right."

"So you can save us?"

"We all die in the end." Does it matter how?"

"What do we do?"

"I don't want to be Emperor. If I activate that bomb, it's all over."

"Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to," Klary shrugged.

"And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy. Isn't that worth dying for?"

"Doctor…"

"Three million Cybermen!"

"The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say this is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the forty first, the Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator. And it's done." The bomb beeps. "It'll blow in about eighty seconds. Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room." As he said that, everyone was transported onto a ship.

"Oh yeah. Nice ship. Bit big. Not blue enough. Listen, there is a large blue box at coordinates six ultra nineteen P. I need it transmatted up here right away."

"Right. Did you get that?" An officer nodded and worked on her console. "And that's that. Seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine-" The planet blew up. The force rocked the ship. "Farewell, Cyberiad. You know, it was good to get away. Good to be a person and not to be lonely, or Emperor of a thousand galaxies with everyone waiting for me to tell them what to do."

"Can't you run away again?" Artie asked.

"They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time. That's what happens when you're Emperor. Loneliest job in the universe."

"You don't have to be lonely."

"I don't. Clara, will you marry me?"

"What?" Klary snickered by the Doctor's side. Clara glared at her.

"He said-"

"She heard what he said."

"You're smart and you're beautiful, and I've never met anyone like you before. And being Emperor won't be as hard if you're by my side. And you'd rule a thousand galaxies."

"This sounds like an actual marriage proposal. Tricky. Now, if you want my advice-"

Klary covered his mouth. "You, not one word. This is between me and the Emperor. Porridge, I don't want to rule a thousand galaxies."

"Yeah. Silly of me."

"I'm really sorry."

"But that's stupid. You could be queen of the universe. How can you say no to that? When someone asks you if you want to be queen of the universe, you say yes. You watch. One day, I'll be queen of the universe."

Klary chuckled. "I'm sure it's a lot more work than you're thinking, Angie. Think, Porridge ran off." The young girl shrugged.

"Of course, I could have you all executed, which is what a proper Emperor would do."

"You're not actually going to do that, though, are you? Oh, you're. Hey?"

"Go on, get out of here, all of you, before I change my mind."

The five quickly went into the Tardis and took off. The Doctor wrapped an arm around Klary once their ship landed.

"Thank you for having me," Artie said as he shook the Doctor's hand. "It was very interesting."

"My pleasure. Thank you for coming. Now, I've got something for you. It's not from me, it's from the Tardis. Ah. New phone."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Sorry I said this box was stupid."

"Bye."

"Bye. Thanks, Clara."

"Thanks Clara's boyfriend." The two kids walked out.

"Clara's boyfriend?" Klary muttered. Brows furrowed as she wondered how that came about.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"For what?"

"Kid's day out. Getting us off the planet alive. Whatever you were doing with the Cybermen. Good night. See you next Wednesday."

"Well, a… a Wednesday, definitely. Next Wednesday, last Wednesday-" Clara left. "One of the Wednesdays. Impossible girl. A mystery wrapped in an enigma squeezed into a skirt that's just a little bit too tight. What are you?"

"I'm sure you'll enjoy finding out."

"So you know."

"Yep. It'll be… interesting to say the least."

"Can't wait then."

So new chapter forever later. I hope everyone has been well. Despite being sick, I'm really glad I was able to get this out. Since the last chapter, I had to make an emergency move to Alaska. Still looking for a place but hopeful it will happen soon. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter and sorry if there are some typos I failed to catch. Next chapter will be out when I'm able to.

AmeaSilverwolf: I really hope you liked the chapter.

Slayer76: Honestly, I was thinking of petty Klary, but I'm going to have shit hit the fan for Rose in terms of her relationship with the Doctor in the future. I have the whole thing planned out and I think you're going to love it ;)

AliceCullen3: I'm so happy you enjoyed it. I hope you liked this one.

Courtezfan9: Hope this chapter was enjoyable. I'm so glad you're enjoying it.

savethemadscientist: Okay when I saw the first comment, my heart dropped lol. I thought you hated it lol. I hope this chapter answered some things for you. Because of the Doctor she's with, it doesn't make sense to tell him exactly what happened. Klary definitely wants nothing to do with Rose but it's one of those things where she's being as much of an adult about it and be amiable. Not to say she won't put Rose in her place, but Klary would rather not cause issues between the Doctor and his companion.

Ezras Writing: Yeah, like to go from having the girl try to murder you to having her meet you for the first time was kinda wild lol and Klary was fighting it so hard. She really did hold Rose's future in her hands. I have a few Rose episodes I'm itching to write because the tension would be glorious. School Reunion is definitely one of them.

Also, thank you all for your patience with the chapters. I'm doing what I can and working to at least write out the chapters in advance so editing would be easier later. I do have to keep in mind to take my time, but that's something I'm not used to at all. I've always been go, go, go and push through it. I'm learning to listen to my body more and make those adjustments. I hope everyone is doing well. And I can't wait to see you in the next chapter.